Cheshire chief constable says German police will be 'firm but fair' with fans at Euros
Cheshire's top officer Mark Roberts is charge of the UK's officers that are policing the tournament in Germany
Last updated 14th Jun 2024
As the hours countdown to the Euros, Cheshire's top police chief says the UK's police presence in Germany will at its highest - with officers on duty alongside German counterparts to keep fans in check.
"I've been doing this since 2014, it's the biggest deployment of police officers since I've been in the role" said Mark Roberts, Chief Constable at Cheshire Constabulary and UK Football Policing Lead.
"If you look at some of the countries where we've played the major tournaments, Brazil, South Africa, Russia, Qatar - they're different sort of challenges. This will be the biggest since France. There's going to be an awful lot of people travelling but the Germans are really well set up for it."
Euro 2024 kicks-off at 8pm Friday evening with Scotland up against hosts Germany.
Hungary and Switzerland go head-to-head on Saturday and England debut and begin their campaign against Serbia on Sunday.
Around half-a-million England and Scotland fans are expected to travel to Germany
Mark continued: "The Germans want to work with us, that's not symptomatic of the fact that they think we're going to be a problem - it's because there's an awful lot of us.
"Culturally, we're probably more akin to Germans than some of the other places we've played. Germans have a big beer drinking culture. It's not alien to them. They're not going to overreact. They're going to be firm but fair."
Warning to fans without tickets
Mark said: "If you're going to travel, know where you are going to stay. Plan ahead. There's an awful lot of things being put on for fans, big fan parks. Dusselldorf and places like that, there's masses of places you can go - but if you don't have a ticket, don't try and go anywhere near the stadium.
"Be in no doubt this is going to be a really secure venue."
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